The present invention relates to an input device for a consumer electronic device or an input device for controlling other devices such as computers (replacing mouse/joy sticks), buttons/knobs in cars, air planes, vessels or vehicles. Generally, the input device may be used in place of a number of well-known input means, as will be evident from the accompanying description.
Various input devices in the shape of built-in controls or remote controls are known in the art for controlling electronic devices such as television sets, radios, auto hi-fi, computers, VCRs, DVDs etc. Also, for personal computers, palm tops and the like, a number of input devices such as joy sticks and mouse devices are well-known.
The commonly known remote controls usually comprise a number of push buttons which are used in order to select the appropriate channel or to increase the volume, etc. Some remote controls are furthermore equipped with small devices similar to a joy stick which may be manipulated in one or more directions in order to select menus on a screen on the electronic device which it is controlling. It is also known in the art to have devices wherein a wheel is provided such that leafing through a menu may be achieved by rotating the wheel, and then by either depressing the wheel or depressing a button provided on the remote control a selection among the items on the screen may be carried out.
A number of devices are know where input is created by displacing for example a top section or by pressing on a member, a so called touch screen or screens where piezo electric elements are activated in response to an input from a user.
One example of such a device is known from US2003/0206202 where a touch screen is mounted in a frame. The frame may be displaced in relation to the device in order to control the movement of a cursor in the screen. When the cursor has been manipulated into a desired position corresponding to the desired input, the screen may be touched, whereby the desired input is registered in a manner known in the touch screen technology. Piezo electrical elements (contacts) may be provided along the edges of the frame in order to register the movements of the screen in relation to the rest of the device. Variable inputs may be generated depending on how the touch screen is pre-programmed.
Another type of device is known from JP2003-15796. In this device the input device is made from a flexible material such that by deflecting the screen underlying contacts are activated, whereby an input is generated. Further the input device may be slid in two perpendicular directions in order to navigate the cursor into the desired position before activating the underlying contacts by deflecting the screen.
Another example is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,780. In this device a touch screen comprising piezo electrical contacts is arranged on two perpendicular axles, such that by tilting the screen underlying contacts are activated in order to register the desired input.
A similar construction is known from JP2000222129.
Common for these devices are the complicated mechanical constructions, which to a large degree have to accommodate the electrical connections for the touch screen and/or the underlying contacts. The devices all combine movements in plane (along X and Y axis) with detection in a direction perpendicular to the plane (Z direction) by piezo electrical means in the shape of touch screens.